The insurance sector in the east China metropolis Shanghai registered a combined premium income of 12.26 billion yuan (some 1.46 billion US dollars) in the first four months this year, a rise of 1.76 percent year on year, the latest statistics show.

According to the Shanghai regulatory bureau of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, the total figure included 2.999 billion yuan for property insurance and 9.258 billion yuan for personal insurance.

Insurance indemnity reached 2.065 billion yuan (approximately 250 million US dollars) by the end of April, an increase of 15.8 percent over the first four months of 2003.

By the end of April, Shanghai had reported a total of 44 insurance firms and the number of intermediary insurance agencies reached 67. In addition, there were 45 China operations of foreigninsurance institutions in the municipality.